


Runaway Fairies

by H_E_A_R_T_H



Series: The Pendulum Series [2]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/F, F/M, Graphic Description, Hospitals, Old Relationships, Siblings, Twins, bad patients, dark guild violence, it be like that, mc is a doctor/healer, nice patients
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-17 13:16:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18966001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/H_E_A_R_T_H/pseuds/H_E_A_R_T_H
Summary: Kaida and Kage Watanabe are twins. They've been linked at the hip since they were kids, but since then their relationship has been wavering. Long time members of Fairy Tail, they're found after years of being away from the guild. Then, they're dragged into a war they certainly have no part in.





	1. Chapter 1

The rain drums against the window in an unsteady rhythm, running in neat streams that race each other to the edge of the window pane. I finish tying gauze behind my patient, lined all along their torso. They're a young red-headed boy, green eyes glossed over with sorrow since he'd arrived the week before. Every time I came to re-tie his bandages, he only greeted me with sad eyes and tired features. It doesn't help that his words have been restricted to short greetings and thanks.

The shuffling nearby is what causes me to pick up my pace. Normally, my hands work slowly, and I take my time in perfecting what I do. The noise is becoming louder, I'm becoming more urgent, and I hope the boy under me hasn't noticed.

Once I'm sure the gauze is fastened in place, loose enough to let him breathe but remain unshifting, I step back a pace. "I'm finished for the day," I lie through my teeth, "Want anything? I'm going to make food for myself,"

He shakes his head without looking at me, laying down on his side slowly. I don't question him, it'll take time for the boy to open up. That is, if he opens up at all.

I leave the room and walk down the bridge that comes after that room hastily. From the bridge, I'm able to see greenery all around me in the treetops. I open the door to the main room, which is homely just like the rooms provided for patients. There's a total of ten rooms dedicated to patients and guests, while only seven are currently occupied, the others still having remnants of past visitors and awaiting cleansing.

The main room has a hole in the corner of the floor, leading down to a spiral staircase, the only entrance and exit to my elaborate hospital and inn of sorts. The theme of peach and red cascade along the furniture. A tan couch and a large fluffy red carpet, birch bookshelves lining the walls painted pale apricot.

I immediately notice the three men sprawled over the couch. They're familiar, at least, but I can't help the dread that settles in my stomach at the sight of the blood coming from their wounds. "Get up, get up," I come over to them in a flurry of words, pushing them out the door opposite of which I'd come in. "You better not get blood on anything, you brutes. I thought I told you to stay out of trouble, Kage?"

"I stayed, I stayed," My twin brother hushes me idly, his normal casual tone present as well as unbearably irritating. "C'mon, sis, take it easy. Trouble finds me, don't you know?"

He earns a rough slap on the back of his head from that comment. His friends only laugh, they don't say anything. I'm glad their wounds don't look major, there isn't much blood. Something sharp must have grazed Kage's abdomen - might I add he looks like he's been injured the worst - but other than some swelling, I doubt there's anything else. One of his friends has a busted lip, the other a progressively blackening eye. Underneath their clothes, it must be worse.

Past the bridge is a room. The patient residing there looks up with a smile, about to put aside her book. "Sorry, sorry," I say, "I'm just passing through, sorry to disturb."+The woman excuses me kindly. Her name is Margery, and she's older, a baker if I recall. She comes by regularly so I can provide her with herbs and medicines, but recently she'd sprained her ankle going up a ladder. I'd wanted to send Margery home, but she'd insisted on staying. "Underneath your eyes get darker and darker every time I come to see you, little lady, and you look to be made of bones by now. And that hair of yours, when was the last time you brushed it?" The list went on, I could never look healthy or presentable enough for this lady, but she had a heart of gold that could only mean well. Margery likes checking up on me, and staying for a night or two would ensure she did just that.

The next room hasn't been cleaned. The sheets are wrinkled, the trash isn't emptied, and the medical tools haven't been sanitized. "Kage, you need to be home," I tell him as I help him lay down. "You know I need help here. I can't do this without you."

"You've done good so far, sister." Kage's nose wrinkles, "What the hell is that smell?"

"This was a pregnant woman's room, she gave birth here," I tell my brother and his friends, who are also making faces of disgust. "She... Ah, she defecated during the-"

"You mean she took a shit as you were pulling a baby out of her?" One of the men asked, laughter lacing his words.

"It's very common, actually. At least I had an extra blanket under her, I was prepared, but the blanket happens to be in that trash bin. I asked if she needed to go before she started pushing, she insisted she was fine, and while pushing she..." I decided to turn my attention back to my brother, running a hand through his black hair. "Now, take off your shirt."

As Kage does as I've asked, I immediately know something is wrong. Not in his health, of course. I see a bruise, I see the wound I guess is from some spell. That's easy, I clean the wound and stick a large band-aid over it, then ice the bruise to reduce pain. I know my brother, and I know he doesn't wear his pants that high. As I work, I notice him actually pay attention to my hands.

"Is everything alright?" I ask vaguely, and I don't miss the nervous glances his two friends exchange across the bed. "Is there something you need to tell me?"

"No," Kage answers quickly, "Everything's fine. We'll stay in my room for a while before they leave, tomorrow we'll be out training again."

I don't question him, I never have. The passing of our father a couple of years left a toll on us, but it affected my brother the most. Since then, he'd tried carrying on his legacy. With that, he took up our father's magic, completely neglecting the healing magic we'd inherited from our mother. Force fields, we're support mages to our very core. But, Kage's been able to use his magic as offensive, forming them into blades or projectiles. I'm less enthusiastic about this magic and certainly not up to par with him. The most I can conjure is a small barrier a little larger than my palm. He's the one who trains constantly to improve his magical barriers, aiming to become an amazing mage. He's claimed many times that once he's good enough, he'll begin travelling, helping people near and far with his healing abilities and force fields.

His friends leave, going through the door we came to head into the main room, aiming to find another bridge to eventually extend to Kage's room. I'm last to leave, and falter in my steps. The man before me is one of Kage's friends, I tell myself. He's very tall, I have to look up if I want to look him in his eyes. His hair is wild and red, and his eyes are slanted and dark green, freckles dotting his nose. On his left shoulder, his white shirt dips down. I catch sight of a black guild mark, and at first I'm about to dismiss it. He's my twin brother's closest friend, I tell myself. But, I recognize it as the mark of the dark guild that terrorizes the town nearby, and my blood runs cold.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaida's morning routine is interrupted by Kage's nonsense. She's forced to make a difficult decision, staying silent or risking their already rocky relationship.

I wake up and peel my face off of a sheet of paper. I fell asleep at my desk again last night, and I notice someone turned off my oil lamp. Maybe it was Margery, but a small part of me wonders if my brother came to check on me. 

I finished cleaning all the rooms yesterday. I thought maybe I could finish a couple of reports. They aren't entirely necessary, but if something goes wrong in my treatment and the patient goes comatose or potentially dies, I think the reports are therapeutic to loved ones. On top of that, it's good to study off of if - and that's a big if - I need to look back for reference.

I clean up my paperwork as best I can and look out the window. The sun is rising, I must have gotten a good four or five hours of sleep. I sort my reports and look through them briefly. Two patients should be leaving today, and another should be coming in to pick up the medicine I made for them.

My brother is in the room next to mine, inside he's sound asleep. I can hear his snores before I enter. I cross his room to get to the next, the last room in this particular row.

This morning I cut day-old bread into slices, then spread strawberry jam over them. I cut up apples, apricots, and put blueberries into the fruit salad. I then head all the way down the long spiral staircase to leave the tree house in order to fetch water from the well to fill glasses for the guests. Around me, I see the plants are thriving, and I make a mental note to come down and pick more blueberries. I ate a lot of them last night in a drowsy subconscious route to ensure I filled my stomach just as long as I filled pages with words. This resulted in the fruit salad not having enough blueberries to leave me completely satisfied, but I decided two or three each is adequate.

I leave food on my brother's bedside table. His room and mine are very different. Mine has a rather small bed, saving room for bookshelves and boxes, all filled with files and medical books. My desk is large, and there are stacks of books on the left and right that reach half-way to the ceiling. Kage's room is nothing like this, with a large bed and a nightstand that commonly holds a pouch of rune stones he sparsely uses nowadays. The only reason it's clean is due to the fact that he's not here long enough to actually mess it up, the only thing marking his presence being his clothes from the day before strewn over the floor. I take his clothes from yesterday and put it in the bin for him, making a mental note to do his laundry sometime tonight.

The first patient I bring breakfast is the red-head. He hasn't yet told him his name yet, but I encountered him calling for help desperately in the forest covered in blood. 

He's staring at the ceiling when I walk in, and he looks over dully when his very important activity is disrupted. "Morning, sir," I send a tight-lipped smile his way. "Breakfast is the same as yesterday, I'm afraid. I might head to the market sometime soon and invest in some marmalade or margarine, it'd be a nice change. Maybe add some herbs to the bread too,"

He doesn't respond, but he does look famished. I put his meal on his nightstand before helping him sit up straight, then give him his meal. "How are you feeling?" I wait a moment and watch as he slowly brings a spoon with an apple to his mouth. "You look much better. You've been here for four days now, someone out there must be quite worried. Are there any parents who might be searching, perhaps a woman?"

Unsurprisingly, my response is silence. "Well, I hope you'll be feeling a little better by lunchtime. I'll prepare a bath for you by then, then I'll change your bandages." He shovels a blueberry into his mouth and wrinkles his nose. When I head back to the kitchen to get breakfast for the next guest, I make a note in the redhead's report, in messy ink that I accidentally smudge on the margin. _Does not like blueberries._

After the boy, I bring breakfast for Margery. She's already up when I arrive, all smiles and no sleepiness. "How did you sleep, Kaida?" She cooes when she sees me.

"Fine," I respond, smiling as I hand over her breakfast tray. "You should be ready to leave whenever you're ready today."

"Oh, hush." When she laughs I swear I can hear the air inside her knocking on her ribs. I'm reminded of her age, and I grimly wonder how long she has left. "You're always trying to rush me out of here, kid. I'm staying until dinner, mind you! I'll pay the extra fee, and don't be giving me no discount."

I grin, genuinely. "Of course, ma'am." I go to take her spoon and feed her, but she's faster than me.

"You treat me like I'm the child here." She tells me, "I can take care of myself. It's you who needs the feeding."

I hear a distant clang, soft enough to dismissed as my imagination. Margery perks up, so it's brought to my attention as well. "I should tend to that," I say before she can question the noise. I smile, reassuringly, "My brother is very clumsy. He must have dropped his dish. He's not a morning person, to make matters worse."

"Men," She rolls her eyes, "Give him a tap on his miserable little head for me, kid."

"Of course," I grin as I close the door, shaking my head.

As I leave her room the sound of arguing fills my ears. Kage's voice is as clear as day, though his words are distant and undecipherable. There's another unfamiliar one, probably one of his friends.

As I reach the main room, I hear a commotion in the row from the door directly across from the one I leave. It gets closer as I run down the bridge, getting to the red-headed boy's room.

"This is a _hospital_!" I shriek as I throw the door open, "There are _patients_ , they are _sick_! Are you two to dense to comprehend that? It's early in the morning and I can hear you from across the fucking _forest_!"

It appears I've interrupted an argument with Kage and the redhead. In my rage, I don't fully register the significance of this. I don't comprehend this is the first time I've ever heard the redhead's voice in the four days I've known him.

"How long has he been here?" My brother shouts back, "Do you have any idea who he is?"

"He is sick, Kage." I look back at the boy. He's in tears, shaking like a leaf, eyes wide and glassy. "Get out! Go do whatever you do all day, _leave_!"

"How did you find him?"

"You would know if you were ever home, but you're not. Don't think I don't know what you do all day!" That shuts him up, and I straighten my posture as I suck in a deep breath. The only sound for a couple of seconds is the redhead's sniffling.

"And what do I do all day, dear sister?" Kage locks me into a strong gaze, challenging. I don't respond immediately, knowing my words could keep or end our relationship. "Well?"

"You..." I bite the bullet, negative emotions engulfing my heart in a vice grip. "You hurt this boy, didn't you? You and that dark guild."


End file.
